MARTIN CHARNIN

created the role of the Jet, “Big Deal” in the original Broadway production of West Side Story, singing “Gee, Officer Krupke” and playing the role for exactly 1000 performances. Subsequently, he has been the director, lyricist, composer, librettist, producer or combination of the aforementioned for over 125 productions. His Tony- Award winning Annie, for which he wrote the lyrics, co-created, and directed, in 1977, is the 22nd longest running American musical in Broadway history. He has directed Annie’s 10 National companies, as well as productions in Amsterdam and Australia. His other productions include Annie Warbucks, the rock opera version of Joan of Arc, Loose Lips, HotSpot, In Persons (with Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson), The Flowering Peach, The Revised Can-Can, Cafe Crown, Mike, TheFirst, A Little Family Business (starring Angela Lansbury), Mata Hari, The Original National Lampoon Show, LenaHorne; The Lady and Her Music, I Remember Mama and Two By Two (both with music by Richard Rodgers), Zenda (music by Vernon Duke), Put It In Writing, Upstairs At O’Neal’s, The No-Frills Revue, Carnal Knowledge, Kaleidoscope, LaStrada, Nash At Nine, and the concert version of Strike Up the Band. In London, Bar Mitzvah Boy, three productions of Annie, a acclaimed revival of Bless the Bride and The 9 1/2 Quid Revue. His other musical theater collaborators include Peter Allen, Harold Arlen, Keith Levenson, Marvin Hamlish, Peter Stone, Mary Rodgers and Alan Jay Lerner. He has written for or directed Fred Astaire, Jack Lemmon, Anne Bancroft, Joel Grey, Ann-Margret, Danny Kaye, Johnny Mathis, Bill Murray, John Belushi, Meatloaf, Bebe Neuwirth, Bernadette Peters, Sarah Jessica Parker, Gilda Radner, Chita Rivera, Liv Ullman, Lou Reed, Susan Sarandon, Joan Rivers, Harvey Keitel, Jon Stuart, Shirley MacLaine, Marlo Thomas, Barbra Streisand, Carol Burnett, and Catherine Zeta-Jones (who made her stage debut as ‘Molly’ in the first London production of Annie in 1978). He has conceived, written and directed eight musical-variety television programs; Anne Bancroft in Annie, the Woman in the Life of a Man, Annie and the Hoods (again with Anne Bancroft), George M, ‘SWonderful, ‘SMarvelous, ‘SGershwin, Cole Porter in Paris, Get Happy (the music of Harold Arlen), Dames at Sea, and The Annie Christmas Show. He has been nominated for or received 6 Tonys, 6 Grammys, 3 Emmys, 3 Gold Records, 2 Platinum records, 6 Drama Desk Awards, The Peabody Award for Broadcasting, and another Grammy for Jay-Z’s rap album Hard Knock Life, which went triple Platinum. Now in the works are, Softly, (a musical with a score by the late Harold Arlen), Winchell, (music by Keith Levenson), and Robin Hood (with Thomas Meehan and Peter Sipos). His 2008 projects included Time-Life’s double-disc- Annie-30th-Anniversary production album (which also contained songs from Annie 2), this current national tour of Annie (in its fourth year), Rodgers &, a concert celebration of the music of Richard Rodgers and his six lyricists (Mr. Charnin functioned as narrator of the piece, which presented some 70 Rodgers melodies, and opened the 2009 season at Lyrics and Lyricists at the 92nd St Y). In the Pacific Northwest, he has directed Shadowlands, the Robin Hood workshop, Annie Warbucks, and Love is Love, a musical revue with a new collaborator, Richard Gray. Love Is Love opened a pre-National tour in Jupiter, Florida in October of 2009. In February 2009, he produced and directed Second Coming, a one-woman cabaret show for his wife and former Annie Star-to-Be, Shelly Burch, which opened to rave reviews at Manhattan’s newest bistro, The Metropolitan Room. He has just been named the artistic director of SHOWTUNES, the Seattle based theatre company which presents Broadway musicals in concert. SHOWTUNES produces and presents in collaboration with the STG Theatre Group, and Broadway across American (BAA).